Spring Wedding Special – Blair Global Media
Are you getting married this Spring? According to the Knot’s recent Real Weddings Study, the cost of a wedding ceremony and reception is on an average $31,213 nationwide. Wedding costs in Canada are trending higher every year and are comparable to the average cost in the US. Weddings in larger cities like Toronto and Vancouver where vendors charge a premium just because of the locale can even have higher costs. There are many other ways to have the wedding of your dreams without going for broke. Research your vendors and keep checking their websites for special offers. For instance, Blair Global Media, located in Ottawa, Canada has a Spring special offer for 50% off the cost of wedding videography/cinematography – and is flexible with designing customized packages to suit your budget. They also have customized packages for photography and videography as a full package deal. Here are five tips for negotiating with wedding vendors:
Before signing a vendor contract, read these five tips. With careful negotiating, you can save money on your wedding — perhaps even thousands of dollars.
Read: Choosing the Right Wedding Cinematographer
1. Offer to Pay in Full
Paying in full is often an ideal scenario, especially for wedding vendors. While wedding professionals often provide installment plans for their clients, for convenience and as an added benefit – they too have added expenses for each wedding they do.
Paying the entire cost upfront will give your vendor the opportunity to use the income sooner on business costs, equipment maintenance and more, which could potentially give you more sway to ask for a discount that better suits your budget.
2. Avoid vendors who refuse to negotiate
Avoid using wedding vendors that seem averse to negotiating or treat your money as if its nothing to them. Often times, there are red flags down the road with these vendors. Find a vendor that responds quickly and seems excited to work with you on your big day. Vendors that never seem to have the time to offer personalized service may not be the best fit for your wedding or your budget.
3. Create a Custom Package for Yourself
If you’re smitten with a particular vendor and haven’t comparison shopped, do what Ashley Feinstein — a certified money coach and February 2015 bride — did. Using the vendor’s existing package as a starting point, she took the reins in the conversation by creating her own customized package, proposing a total price and sending it back to the vendor.
According to Lindsay Blair, CEO of Blair Global Media, “in many cases Brides will use our packages as a starting point and a revise price within their budget. There may be items in the package the bride doesnt need – like extra videography hours – or shooting the rehearsal dinner. In this case, it can be a win-win, the bride can outline her budget and the exact services she needs – and we dont have to end up filming 12 hours of wedding footage when she only needs four hours for a 5 minute wedding film. It all depends on the couples needs and the final end product that they desire. Ofcourse, if they want the 12 hours of footage to savour every minute – then thats also perfectly ok – we can also give couples all the wedding footage that we have captured on camera”.
4. Find a Middle Ground
When negotiating with your preferred vendor, it’s important to keep your expectations reasonable when negotiating for a discount. Make sure that you give individual items your budget serious consideration before approaching your vendors. Dont neglect important items in your wedding budget – especially those like videography that can provide a lifetime of memories long after your wedding day has passed.
Approaching the negotiation ready to compromise, rather than being inflexible, might merit a discount from the vendor’s perspective.
5. Be Honest About Your Budget
At the end of the day, wedding vendors will appreciate your honesty about your wedding budget. It will be difficult for them to design a great package without knowing details about your budget.
Securing a great rate from each of your wedding vendors ultimately requires tact and honesty.
Visit www.blairglobalmedia.ca/special-offers for more information on the Spring wedding offer.